Wesnoth on low-performance computers ?

[LibreFaso]

I just installed a Debian Bullseye with LXDE on a computer for kids that has only 1 Gb of RAM.
Is it possible to show them Wesnoth on it ? What would be the required settings ?

[gnombat]

You might be able to run Wesnoth with only 1 gigabyte of RAM, but it's likely to be slow (possibly swapping to disk). I would recommend going to "Preferences" → "Display" and disabling the animation settings (especially "Animate water").

[LibreFaso]

Thanks.
Any recommendation on the map sizes/numbers of units that would minimize RAM consumption ?
Are there any campaigns that would particularly fit such a setting ?

[gnombat]

Large maps are probably going to use a lot of memory - the following list shows the largest map in each campaign (this is from Wesnoth 1.14):

Code: Select all

An_Orcish_Incursion/maps/01_Defend_the_Forest.map: 22,22 (size: 484)
Dead_Water/maps/Home_2.map: 57,30 (size: 1710)
Delfadors_Memoirs/maps/12_Terror_at_the_Ford_of_Parthyn.map: 62,52 (size: 3224)
Descent_Into_Darkness/maps/12a_Endless_Night.map: 32,52 (size: 1664)
Eastern_Invasion/maps/16_Weldyn_under_Attack.map: 46,42 (size: 1932)
Heir_To_The_Throne/maps/23_Test_of_the_Clans.map: 88,60 (size: 5280)
Legend_of_Wesmere/maps/Kalian.map: 62,62 (size: 3844)
Liberty/maps/03_Strategy_of_Hope.map: 47,40 (size: 1880)
Northern_Rebirth/maps/13a_Showdown.map: 62,62 (size: 3844)
Sceptre_of_Fire/maps/7_Outriding_the_Outriders.map: 26,74 (size: 1924)
Secrets_of_the_Ancients/maps/21_Against_the_World.map: 60,45 (size: 2700)
Son_Of_The_Black_Eye/maps/18_Northern_Alliance.map: 72,40 (size: 2880)
The_Hammer_of_Thursagan/maps/12_The_Underlevels.map: 62,41 (size: 2542)
The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/maps/22_The_Rise_of_Wesnoth.map: 52,47 (size: 2444)
The_South_Guard/maps/06b_The_Long_March.map: 39,47 (size: 1833)
Two_Brothers/maps/03_Guarded_Castle.map: 39,33 (size: 1287)
Under_the_Burning_Suns/maps/08_Out_of_the_Frying_Pan.map: 78,55 (size: 4290)
tutorial/maps/02_Tutorial_part_2.map: 42,22 (size: 924)

So, the campaigns with the smallest maps are An Orcish Incursion, the tutorial, and A Tale of Two Brothers - those are probably the ones which use the least memory.

The campaigns Delfador's Memoirs, Heir to the Throne, Legend of Wesmere, Northern Rebirth, and Under the Burning Suns have big maps - those are the most likely to use a lot of memory.

I'm not sure which campaign has the most units on the map at one time - probably Northern Rebirth (which has big maps too).

[LibreFaso]

Thanks !

[Ravana]

I dont have evidence to the case, but I expect older versions of wesnoth work better with less resources.

[LibreFaso]

I dont have evidence to the case, but I expect older versions of wesnoth work better with less resources.

I was suspecting something like that, but I don't know if there's a list of which version requires what ?
Also I'm not sure that I would know how to install older versions on Debian...

[Atreides]

I dont have evidence to the case, but I expect older versions of wesnoth work better with less resources.

I was suspecting something like that, but I don't know if there's a list of which version requires what ?
Also I'm not sure that I would know how to install older versions on Debian...

I'm also a Debian user (not a experienced one though) and it seems to me that Deb isn't very up to date with Wesnoth. Only 1.12.6 was available for Deb 9 when I installed it even though 14 was out. I installed a Deb 10 backport of 1.14.5 but eventually moved to flatpak as the only choice to get the most modern version. But that's irrelevant to you. :)

As far as installing old versions of Deb software I do think it can be done. In synaptic there is a tab that lets you choose an older version. But I recall that Linux is inferior to Windows in this respect. It is very limited in the range of software from different ages that it can run. It's all tied to an ever changing list of libraries etc. that it requires and none of them seem to be compatible. So running Wes 1.4 or 6 might require some old library version that was used when Debian was the same age. Deb 9/10/11 will only have much newer versions. Of course if you were running a very old version of Debian...

[LibreFaso]

I believe the problem with older versions of debian is that they would be unsupported ?

[Atreides]

I believe the problem with older versions of debian is that they would be unsupported ?

Yes, official support ends at certain set times. Deb 9 ends this summer (at which time I will try and switch to 10) and anything older is not supported by patches and fixes coming out. This does not mean the older versions are unusable though. Old software works just as well today as it did when it was new, that doesn't change. What might matter (depending on circumstances) is certain security exploits and the like which are a big deal in todays networked computer world.

Does it matter? Depends. For example running Wesnoth 0.3 is perfectly safe since it does not connect to the internet. However Debian 8 does constantly do so in the background for example. In theory one of those background connections could be hacked into using an exploit that was fixed in later versions of Deb.

Some years ago I went online with one of my older PC's that runs Windows 95 (and DOS 6.2 and RedHat 6.1) and I connected to the net using a dial up ISP directly via the 56K modem. This was not that many years back (5?) and mostly one uses ADSL and routers (which are a super safety enhancer) but connecting via modem in this modern time got me a VIRUS thanks to Win95 not having any defence against this. (I was lucky and noticed it due to suspicious traffic & I managed to remove the virus before it spread or did any damage)

[LibreFaso]

Anyway, I tried the official package and it worked.
I was able to play a few turns of the South Guard campaign, didn't get any trouble.